What do you think of MDR food

For the last several years I've been of the opinion that the main dining room food is less than subpar on NCL cruise. As a result, we typically eat in specialty restaurants every night. However my mother just came back from the Dawn Boston to Bermuda and told me that the food was great in the main dining room. I am wondering if this is just an abnormality on that one ship or if their food quality is getting better

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I've only eaten in a MDR on NCL a few times and wasn't thrilled, but I have read review where posters raved about it. After the first few times, I think I'll stick with the specialty restaurants.

We just completed our first cruise which was on the getaway and I think it compares to the other cruises we've been on which include five on princess two on Royal Caribbean And two on a celebrity and three on Carnival. Overall I thought the food was pretty good and did not miss dining in the specialty restaurants at all

We are cruised on the follow NCL ships:

2010 Gem--MDR ranged from average to very good, specialty excellent

2011 Jade--MDR ranged from average to very good. specialty excellent

2012 Epic--MDR ranged from good to excellent- specialty excellent

2014 Star (two cruises B2B) MDR was generally very good, sometimes excellent, one meal was poor. specialty excellent

Lukewarm, late and not good!

For the last several years I've been of the opinion that the main dining room food is less than subpar on NCL cruise. As a result, we typically eat in specialty restaurants every night. However my mother just came back from the Dawn Boston to Bermuda and told me that the food was great in the main dining room. I am wondering if this is just an abnormality on that one ship or if their food quality is getting better

 

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We had the pleasure of having the "new" menus on our Getaway cruise last year. This not only included more items, but MUCH better quality. I had no complaints at all! Prior years, I would agree with you ... but not since O'Sheehan rolled out the new menus. What will happen now remains to be see, however.

I have usually Dined in the Dawn's MDR, and the experience was positive. No complaints.

Few times I have tried the mdr I found the food uninspired and the meats of lower quality than years past....don't serve me tough steak....make it into a tasty dish where it won't matter that it started out tough....that and the rushed and perfunctory service as crew have so much more to do drive me to the buffet where I eat a lot of salad...better for my health but not as fun as enjoying delicious food presented with pride....

We prefer the speciality restaurants. I thought the food was too much like cafeteria style. Plus there was lack of theme. For example one night they had a Mexican inspired appetizer, salad and dessert but no main entree. I thought the food was below average. We even had suite room which allowed us a sit down breakfast every day in Cagney. The food was excellent but the menu never changed and they had no specials.

We were on and 11 day on the Pearl a month ago... Ate in one or the other mdr 5 nights... (Did speciality all the other nights.) Everything we ordered was good to really good... I think I am the only one who thought the steak (it was on the left side, so the nightly menu side) was slightly fatty... Hubby ordered it another night and loved it. We mostly ordered from the right side (that night specials) and everything was really really good. Oh, the lasagna... Both variations (al forno and one with kale I believe) were both excellent. Dd ordered the roast chicken (left side of the menu) every night we were in the mdr, with extra veggies in lieu of the potatoes, it was her favorite meal.

We enjoy the MDR food, and also feel lately it has improved, but the specialty restaurants have gone down. The buffet is best for breakfast, ok for lunch, don't go for dinner. Just our feelings

For what its worth; been out on a few NCL ships and for us the MDR always varied by ship and "crew"...As did the specialty restaurants...

Jewel MDR food was excellent, specialty was excellent...Service=A

Dawn MDR food was very good, specialty was great...Service=A

Sun MDR food was fair, specialty was great...Service=B

Pearl MDR food was terrible, specialty was fair to OK but both a huge disappointment...Service=F

Booked on the Star for 2016 with the UDP so can't help but wonder what awaits...???Diluted specialty restaurants or an improvement over what was getting very stale...

Rob

With the caveat that all food is subjective, we just got off the Gem yesterday, our second time on this ship. On our first Gem sailing, back in 2011, we thought the food was mediocre at best (except in the specialty venues). So we were happily surprised to find the MDR and buffet food this time around to be pretty darn good. Definitely much improved. I've never thought you sail NCL for the food, so this really added to what was a wonderful cruise.

Even back in the "old days", NCL did not have the best of food in the MDR for dinner.

Happily, now, there are very good specialty restaurants on NCL ships! :)

LuLu

I eat out almost daily...so I use the "would I go back to that restaurant" to rate the food (I'm not picky....I eat out more because I'm lazy).

Lunch in the MDR....yes, I would go back (I had a chicken salad sandwich that was more of an open faced sandwich).

Dinner....I had "zucchini and eggplant". The portion size was tiny...but it didn't matter because I took 2 bites and left it. Based on taste alone...no, I wouldn't go back.

Next night...Chicken parmesian with spaghetti. This time the portion was so large I only ate half...and it was very good. Yes, I'd go back.

I found the food in the Getaway MDRs to be fine. Same level as Princess, Carnival, and RCCL IMHO

I enjoyed the food in the MDR

I can't say every meal was spectacular but I would say out of the many many times I have eaten there, I found the meals to be quite tasty and really good

The service on the other hand can be questionable at times

ok so this will obviously show that my upcoming cruise is my first..but the main dining room isnt buffet style? For some reason I thought that anytime you ate in the dining room it was a buffet.

ok so this will obviously show that my upcoming cruise is my first..but the main dining room isnt buffet style? For some reason I thought that anytime you ate in the dining room it was a buffet.

No. The dining rooms are all full service meals. Only the buffet is a buffet.

ok so this will obviously show that my upcoming cruise is my first..but the main dining room isnt buffet style? For some reason I thought that anytime you ate in the dining room it was a buffet.

No, the MDR is setup like a regular waiter restaurant like on land except its part of your cruise fare. The buffet is it own separate area in different part of the ship that you self-serve yourself.

Regarding the food in the MDR - I found the taste to be adequate to excellent but service on the other hand was hit or miss (winded up getting more free wine for 2 different nights because of the long wait - the maitre d way of apologizing to the solo group, can't complain about that:p).

Food taste is subjective - If you don't want to risk being disappointed by the 'dismal' favor of the MDR ; then I suggest stay doing specialty dining. Otherwise, take a risk for one whole trip or 2-3 days, and see if you like it or not (check the menu the day of and pick out items you don't mind eating or to see if that's skippable and just dine at specialty instead)

For the last several years I've been of the opinion that the main dining room food is less than subpar on NCL cruise. As a result, we typically eat in specialty restaurants every night. However my mother just came back from the Dawn Boston to Bermuda and told me that the food was great in the main dining room. I am wondering if this is just an abnormality on that one ship or if their food quality is getting better

 

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Isn't less that sub par stretching it a bit. Of course, on all lines food has gone down, but on our last NCL cruise we were very satisfied with the MDR food. We split our cruise into 1/2 MDR and 1/2 specialty dining. We had prime rib one night, rib loin (whatever that is) one night, there were always 4 or 5 choices with fresh veggies every night. I brougt a couple menus home with me; they offered Salmon twice, there were several dishes always available.

I think maybe the food has improved in the past year or so. On the other hand our daughter said, on the Jewel, in Feb she was not impressed with the food or service, but she certainly didin't rate in below sub par.

We prefer the speciality restaurants. I thought the food was too much like cafeteria style. Plus there was lack of theme. For example one night they had a Mexican inspired appetizer, salad and dessert but no main entree. I thought the food was below average. We even had suite room which allowed us a sit down breakfast every day in Cagney. The food was excellent but the menu never changed and they had no specials.

The menu not changing in Cagney's for breakfast and lunch for suite and VIP guests is a constant complaint but the MDR it is also the same daily. We all would like to see a little variety. On the other hand for breakfast what more can you expect? there are only so many breakfas entrees.

Spidybabe: I agree, the MDR seems to have improved but the specialty dining rooms have slipped a little.

I do like NLCs food better than Princess.

On our recent Epic cruise, we ate in the MDR every night but two and were very pleased. The new menus are a step up from the previous ones.

We were also very happy that they were willing to make adjustments to our meals (no sauce, etc.) and we never had an issue with things not being done correctly. We ate anywhere from 6:30 to 9:00, so we were there when the restaurants were very busy and only moderately busy.

For me, the main difference between the two is atmosphere. The one specialty we went to was quieter and not as hectic as the MDR.

On our next cruise, we have the UDP as part of a promotion. I expect we will eat a couple of nights in a specialty and the rest in the MDR.

are both the mdr's the same? if not which on is better on the Gem?

Just took Sky and the food was not terrific in the MDR overall. Buffet items not that great either. Il Adagio was a nice alternative for breakfast and lunch or a quick snack. Still had some nice things in the MDR but overall not a lot appealed to us.

Best MDR - Star 2012 - buffet was ok.

Best Buffet - Epic 2011 - MDR was ok.